Thursday, March 12, 2009

Interview with ambersmithsonian

Today's interview is with ambersmithsonian, whose Polyvore layouts caught our eye out of sheer uniqueness. As you'll learn from her interview, her layout style changed after a dream she had that was inspired by Polyvore! Her sets are a funky collaboration of fashion, music and art components that are abstract and super fun.

I am 25 and live in Cleveland, Ohio, but am originally from East Tennessee. I am an Event Coordinator who plans all kinds of parties. It sounds glamorous, but is actually quite not! At any given moment I can be found prowling vintage/thrift shops, dancing around at local shows or skimming the bins with my bf at independent record stores. Eventually, I would love to go on tour as a back-up singer/dancer for Leslie and the LYs!

Describe your sense of style/fashion.

I love to mix everything - colors, textures, patterns, vintage & modern. I also like to add unexpected bursts of color with shoes and/or accessories. I have to look pretty professional at work most of the time, but strive to make up for the mundane days with wilder fashion statements while exploring the music scene in Cleveland. Most of the time I can be seen in skinny pants, vintage sweaters and funky flats. I am also obsessed with reconstructed vintage jewelry and one-of-a-kind pieces.

How did you discover Polyvore?

About two months ago I accidentally stumbled upon Polyvore when I was online one night. I have no idea how i got there, but I swear I heard birds singing and the world made sense again! Now you will never get rid of me...

Tell us a little about what you use Polyvore for and why.

I use Polyvore because it is genius. It allows me to release some built up creativity. I have always been very artistic and I love to use various mediums. Polyvore is such an amazing way to quickly and efficiently create something beautiful. There are endless possibilities and inspirations. Polyvore has opened my eyes to a new world of viral art composed by a talented, global community and it's pretty damn amazing.

Describe your set creation process. Where do you get inspirationfor your sets? How do you pick a theme? How do you find your items?

I build some sets around items that I love like a pair of shoes or a dress. For "night owl," I created the look around that terrific playsuit.

The lengthwise collection all started from a dream I had after I became obsessed with Polyvore. In the dream I met this group of people who were made up of the components from my items list. I woke up thinking of the rabbit mask and made "i heard you fell into a rabbit hole." I felt like I was Alice in Wonderland and had tripped out in a dream and woke up very different. I am not sure if I will deter from the lengthwise collection anytime soon.

Anyone who is familiar with my sets knows that a lot of my inspiration comes from music and song lyrics. I make it a point to incorporate these artists/songs into my sets. If I've recently been to a show, odds are that I've come home and made a set based on some hipster's haircut or how the drums made my feet move.

What are your 3 favorite sets of the ones you've made?

This is my fave because somehow it only took ten or less minutes to make and it came together exactly as I had imagined. I compare all my other sets to this one because it seemed so effortless.

I would love to see an iPhone app for Polyvore if there isn't one out there. I would also like to be able to organize my items into the regular groupings you have (shoes, dresses, tops). And it would be so great if there was the option at the top of drafts to rotate items left or right within sets. Keep up the amazing work - this is my favorite website ever!

9 comments:

Anonymous
said...

rotation tool! rotation tool! rotation tool! rotation tool!pleeeaseee that would be GREAT :]There should be a petition for it cuz i know a lot of poly art&xpression sets creators would give good use to it,, i know you guys can pull that out & it will be HIGHLY apreeceated =D

Polyvore, please make a rotating tool! Its really frustrating to make a set and the item doesn't fit exactly in the place you want it too. I loved how you interviewed ambersmithsonian, because she is so unique!